The Major Human Causes of Climate Change

8/6/2019 The Major Human Causes of Climate Change

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The Major Human Causes Of Climate

Change.

The Earth has cycled through many phases of warming and cooling over

the billions of years of its history due to the greenhouse effect. There are many natural factors

that contribute to the greenhouse effect, but most of these occur very slowly over many

millennia.

Temperature is increasing faster than ever on a global scale that cannot be explained by

these natural processes. It is now clear that humans are responsible. But you can help change

this. Find out how you can help.

The Reason: Humans Are Causing The Problem

While there are manynatural causes of global warming, these causes do not account for the

extra warming we are currently seeing on our planet. The current warming is anthropogenic,

created by humans.

How do humans cause global warming? We are accelerating the natural climatological

cycles with our human-created emissions ofgreenhouse gases. The primary gas, carbon

dioxide, is released every time you use fossil fuels- currently our main energy source. Unless

you help stop those emissions, there is little hope of a secure future for humans.

Youll see that dangerous shifts in the Earths climate are happening as we speak due to

human induced global warming, and as it continues the consequences will worsen.

Furthermore, such changes may be self-reinforcing. From an objective perspective, it looks

like we are playing Russian roulette with all of life on Earth!

How Do You Contribute?

Ifyou want to helpstop global warming, you have to understand how your actions are

causing it. The main causes of global warming, in order of the magnitude of their impact, are:

1. Carbon Dioxide from:

1. Fossil Fuel

2. Deforestation

3. Failing Sinks

2. Methane from:

1. Cattle and Rice Paddies

2. the Artic Tundra

3. Clathrates

3. Nitrogen Oxides from Farming

4. Other Gases
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The Most Significant Cause

The buildup ofcarbon dioxide in the atmosphere, mainly from yourfossil fuel emissions, is

the most significant human cause of global warming. Carbon dioxide is released every you

burn something, be it a car, airplane or coal plant. This means you must burn less fossil fuel if

you want the Earths climate to remain stable! And unfortunately, we are currently destroying

some of the best known mechanisms for storing that carbon plants.

Deforestation increases the severity ofglobal warming as well. Carbon dioxide is released

from the human conversion of forests and grasslands into farmland and cities. All living

plants store carbon. When those plants die and decay, carbon dioxide is released back into the

atmosphere. As forests and grasslands are cleared for your use, enormous amounts of stored

carbon enter the atmosphere.

An unstoppable feedback loop may happen if you let this continue. If the activities

mentioned above warm the Earth just enough, it could cause natural carbon sinks to fail. Acarbon sink is a natural system that stores carbon over thousands of years. Such sinks

include peat bogs and the arctic tundra. But if these sinks destabilize, that carbon will be

released, possibly causing an unstoppable and catastrophic warming of the Earth.

The oceans are no longer able to store carbon as they have in the past. The ocean is a huge

carbon sink, holding about 50 times as much carbon as the atmosphere.[1]But now scientists

are realizing that the increased thermal stratification of the oceans has caused substantial

reductions in levels of phytoplankton, which store CO2.[2] Increased atmospheric carbon is

also causing an acidification of the ocean, since carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid when it

reacts with water. The tiny plants of the ocean, the very bottom of that vast watery food

chain, are suffering from the effects of global warming, which means they are becoming lessable to store carbon, further contributing to climate change.[3]

As carbon sinks fail, the amount of carbon in the atmosphere climbs![4]

Methanes Huge Impact

Per unit of volume, it is twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide when its impact is

measured over the course of a century. When you consider its effects within a single decade,

methane is 100 times as powerful as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas![5] Carbon levels in

the atmosphere are about 385 parts per million (ppm) currently, whereas methane is onlyabout 1.8 ppm. But because methane is so powerful, it has the potential to have significant

impacts on the future of global warming.

Methane is created when bacteria break down organic matter under oxygen-starved

conditions. This occurs when organic matter is trapped underwater, as in rice paddies. It also

takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, such as cows, sheep, and goats. Because

human agriculture has grown over time to engulf most of the arable land on the planet, it is

now adding a lot of methane to the atmosphere. Landfills and leakage from natural gas fields

(methane is a component of natural gas) are also significant sources of methane.

Clathrates are a hidden source of Methane. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice andmethane that rest at the bottom of the worlds oceans. As the water warms, the ice melts, and
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the methane is released. If the current global warming, which is caused by humans, were to

cause changes in the Earths ocean currents, then a rapid melting of clathrates would be

possible. This too would create a positive feedback loop that would cause further global

warming. It is believed that some of the warming cycles in the Earths history have been

caused by the sudden thawing of clathrates.[6]

A Growing Problem

The green revolution of the twentieth century has allowed the farmers of the world to use

chemical fertilizers and machines to produce far more food than they ever did before. One of

the primary components of the green revolution has been the development ofnitrogen

fertilizers that dramatically accelerate the growth and productivity of plants in the field.

Plants fix, or capture, nitrogen on their own as well, but green revolution technologies have

become so popular that humans are now adding more nitrogen to the earth than all of the

plants in the world combined![7]

Nitrogen oxides have 300 times more heat-trapping capacity per unit of volume than does

carbon dioxide, and we release them every time we apply fertilizer to soil. A recent United

Nations Food and Agriculture Organization study found that modern farming is contributing

more to global warming than all of the transportation sector combined![8] This is due partly

to the fuel burned in modern farming, but more significantly, to the release of methane and

nitrogen oxides.

The Few But Strong

CFCs and HCFCs (chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons) used in refrigeration

are also powerful greenhouse gases. These gases occur in lower concentrations in the

atmosphere, but because they are so much more potent than carbon dioxide in some cases

hundreds of times more potent per unit of volume they contribute to global warming as

well.
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In the rectangle above, you will find the fundamental concepts and principles that underlie

this standard. Below you will find a list of recommended "learning tools" for this standard.

Just click the links within the descriptions. Numbers are for reference only. Use our "Tell a

Friend" feature, at the bottom, to send this page to a friend!

1

Planet Protectors is a learning tool provided byEcoKids in Canada. Students must reduce the

amount of carbon dioxide being put into the atmosphere by people by picking all the right CO 2fighters for each polluter. Students learn more about the Greenhouse Effect, sources of pollution,

and what can be done to help.

2

Power Up!is a learning tool brought to us by Science NetLinks. Students are provided with a

specific monetary budget, which they can use to purchase power plants for their city. As students

choose their types of power, they will learn how much power the plant provides, how much it costs,

and the effect it could have on the environment. Just click the link under "Power Up!".

3

Mexican Rainforest is a learning tool in which students create development strategies for sustainable

growth with both economic and environmental interests in mind. Some of the different factors they

must consider include species loss, hectares, profitability, eco-tourism, political legislation, land

trust, and the possibility of political protests. This learning tool is provided byMSNBC.

4

This "learning tool" is calledWater Pollution. One of the most innovative science education

companies isExplorelearning.com, they call their simulations, Gizmos. They are a subscription site ,

but they allow you to see this Gizmo for 5 minutes. Shockwave is required. Tech Note: Click your

browser refresh button if you get an error message after loading.

5

Wildfire Simulatorshows how conditions such as wind speed and direction can affect a fire's spread

and shows how firefighters use fire lines and backfires to control a wild land fire. This learning

tool comes to us fromNOVA, a leader in science television programming.

6

In Disease Spread, students observe the spread of disease through a population of people. One of the

most innovative science education companies isExplorelearning.com. They call their simulations

Gizmos. They are a subscription site, but they allow you to see this Gizmo for 5 minutes.

Shockwaveis required.

7

This "learning tool" is calledClimate Change: The Burning Issue. Developed by the Science

Museum of London, this interactive lesson examines the multifaceted problem of climate change in

clever and imaginative ways.

8

Household Energy Use is a learning tool that comes to us from one of the most innovative science

education companies, Explorelearning.com. They call their simulations Gizmos. They are a

subscription site, but they allow you to see this Gizmo for 5 minutes. Shockwaveis required.

9

In Rate Tornado Damage, students use the Fujita scale (or F-scale) to examine and rate the

destruction caused by several recent tornadoes. Actual photographs of damage are used. This

learning tool is brought to us byNOVA.
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The Major Human Causes of Climate Change